La Marseillaise

It is called the "Marseillaise", "Rouget de Lisle" composed it during the night from the 25th to the 26th of April in 1792. Who was he? He was an officer in the Royal Engineers in Strasburg and he wrote it insofar as the mayor of the town had given him the order to do that. The first time it was listened to, it was in Marseille, that's why it was called the "Marseillaise", the 22nd of June in 1792. It was first called « song of war for the Rhine army » and it was immediately adopted by the voluntary soldiers of Marseille. They were singing it all the time for a few weeks when they went from Marseille to Paris where they arrived on the 30th of July 1792. Its success was such that the war ministry took it officially in his repertory from September of the same year. On July the 14th in 1795 it was declared "national anthem".

Owing to the fact that it is a "war song" you find all along the verses the lexical fields, not only both of death and the enemy but also of victory. The wording is also full of metaphors. You finally can understand that this song is a call to the French, you want them, on the one hand to be united and on the other hand trusting.

If I have chosen the "Marseillaise" it is due to the fact that, in my opinion, it is what represents France best: on the one hand you can always hear it at the beginning of an international football match and on the other hand during the national holiday, on the 14th of July.